China lost its second match at the Volleyball Nations League on Saturday night when it lost 3-1 to the Dominican Republic in a tough match at the Kai Tak Arena.
Despite losing their play-off match to the Dominican team, ranked 15th out of 18 participating nations, China had already secured qualification as hosts and will take part in the next games in Macau later this month.
China held a 6-4 record after 10 rounds of the VNL, while the Dominicans entered with a poor 2-8 record but had temporarily escaped the relegation zone after beating Ukraine 3-2 in the previous round.
China previously beat the Caribbean team five times in the World Cup, but they could not settle with captain and striker Gong Xiangyu playing through injuries, and key players Li Yingying and Wu Mengjie absent.
Coming back from the day off after winning one match and losing the other, the hosts earned the opening point of the match, but dropped the first set 25-22.
The momentum changed at the start of the second set. After trading scores to 6-6, China built a three-point lead and largely maintained their advantage.
